'Bobadil' proves unlucky for teen from Luckey, Ohio

BLADE STAFF

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WASHINGTON - The numbers just didn't add up as northwest Ohio spelling champion Lucas Liner learned Thursday that he will not compete in the semifinals of the National Spelling Bee.

"I'm pretty disappointed about it," Lucas, 14, of Luckey, Ohio, said.

The national bee announced the 48 semifinalists late in the afternoon after a first round conducted by computer Wednesday and two on-stage rounds yesterday. Three Ohioans will take part in the semifinals, which begin at 10 a.m. today on ESPN, including George Jose, 14, of Wapakoneta. The finals will be broadcast at 8 tonight on ABC.

"He had some tough competition," his mother, Amy Taulker, said. "He did very well."

Lucas qualified for the National Spelling Bee with his win at the 2010 Blade Northwest Ohio Championship Spelling Bee. His trip to Washington and expenses are paid by The Blade.

At the national bee, he aced 19 of the 25 words on the computer test, in which he listened to words and typed the spellings.

"I honestly think the ones I missed I never heard [of] in my life," Lucas said.

On stage yesterday morning, he spelled "belligerent" correctly. For the afternoon round, he was given a word usually reserved for unabridged dictionaries - "Bobadil," after a character in 17th Century playwright Ben Jonson's Every Man In His Humour.

Lucas, unfamiliar with the word, spelled it, "babadil."

"I won't be forgetting that one soon, I'll tell you," Lucas said.

Out of 31 possible points, his score after three rounds was 22. A score of 27 was needed to make the semifinals.

"This is the farthest you can go. For somebody from a little-known town, I think I've done pretty good," Lucas said.

Spelling results aside, Lucas and his family - his mother and his grandmother Donna Filiere - have enjoyed their Washington adventure. Sightseeing so far has included stops at the National Museum of Crime and Punishment and the Smithsonian. They plan to take in more of Washington tomorrow.

"So far, it's been just great. I'm not used to big cities like D.C.," said Lucas, an eighth grader at Eastwood Middle School. "The biggest city I've ever been in for an extended amount of time is Bowling Green or Toledo."

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